Lost 1st and 2nd gear

[4gfun]

I parked my car and it went into 1st and 2nd gear just fine. I came back a few hours later and although the shifter goes into 1st gear position just fine, but it feels and actually is 3rd gear that it is going into.

Same thing with 2nd gear. The shifter goes into 2nd gear position just fine, but it feels and actually is 4rd gear that it is going into.

No grinding or anything when putting the shifter into what should be 1st and 2nd gear.

Ideas?

Thank you

 

[GRAVEDIGGER]

Pull the shifter boot up and look underneath while you move the shifter around. Make sure that there is nothing that is caught up in the shifter linkage underneath the shifter boot. If you find nothing there, take a look under the hood where the linkage hooks up to the transmission to make sure that there is nothing that is getting caught in the linkage out there.

 

[bq509]

I second gravediggers advice! Happened to me once the shift linkage underneath the hood caught up on my battery and wouldn't let me shift into 1st or 2nd :/

 

[4gfun]

I removed the cable from the transmission end and I cannot shift the transmission lever by hand.

 

[4gfun]

What lever is for what? I used to know this stuff and remember there being some walkthrough on shifting manually. The lever that is on the right hand side looking at the vehicle is where it is sticking...but it doesn't seem too far off of where my DSM is either. Under certain positions, the DSM shifter sticks as well. It is hard to tell what I am looking for.

Please help.

 

[GRAVEDIGGER]

You should be able to move the lever on the transmission with the cable end disconnected. If you cannot move the lever there is a problem inside your transmission.

 

[tay97gst]

Jafro shows how you should be able to manually go through the gears on the transmission here: [ame=http://youtu.be/Z_mNqViDt94?t=7m43s]Trans & Clutch 3 - Fork Tech, Mounts & Service Parts - YouTube[/ame] Go to the time marker 7:43. If you can't do that then there's an internal problem with the trans

 

[4gfun]

You should be able to move the lever on the transmission with the cable end disconnected. If you cannot move the lever there is a problem inside your transmission.

The shift lever moves fine, I can only move the selector when the shift lever is in the middle position.

Same thing for my DSM.

 

[4gfun]

Jafro shows how you should be able to manually go through the gears on the transmission here: Trans & Clutch 3 - Fork Tech, Mounts & Service Parts - YouTube Go to the time marker 7:43. If you can't do that then there's an internal problem with the trans

I can do what Jafro is doing, but I can't quite tell how to get into each gear...he is too fast. Looks like he is pulling up and down on the lever at some point.

 

[tay97gst]

I can do what Jafro is doing, but I can't quite tell how to get into each gear...he is too fast. Looks like he is pulling up and down on the lever at some point.

I'll describe this the way that Jafro has his transmission oriented so that you can see what he's doing. Pushing up and down on the counterweight is like wiggling your shifter back in forth in neutral. Pushing down and to the left is 1st, down and to the right is 2nd, leaving the counter weight in the middle and going left is 3rd, so on and so forth. If you can't do this I would have to assume something is wrong inside of the transmission. I would disconnect your shifter linkage at the transmission as well just to make sure nothing is getting caught with the linkage.

 

[4gfun]

I'll describe this the way that Jafro has his transmission oriented so that you can see what he's doing. Pushing up and down on the counterweight is like wiggling your shifter back in forth in neutral. Pushing down and to the left is 1st, down and to the right is 2nd, leaving the counter weight in the middle and going left is 3rd, so on and so forth. If you can't do this I would have to assume something is wrong inside of the transmission. I would disconnect your shifter linkage at the transmission as well just to make sure nothing is getting caught with the linkage.

Thanks,

I was able to get it into 1st by using this method. When you say shifter linkage, you mean the cables or the part that holds the levers?

Since I can get the car in 1st gear, I assume that this is good news, but I am not sure that I am out of the woods yet. There is nothing obstructing the cables or the levers in any way.

 

[4gfun]

Looks like this is a shifter cable adjustment issue then. I removed the cable from the shift selector, I can't even get it back on. As hateful as shifter cable adjustment is on a GVR4, it beats dropping the tranny again.

Hopefully that is it and thanks for your help.

 

[4gfun]

Well it turns out the problem is at the shifter where the rubber cable shield meets the plastic. I always break that on these cars and "fix it" with jb weld. Unfortunately, jb weld doesn't do very well with rubber. It ended up breaking and changing the angle of the cable thereby knocking it out of adjustment. Oh well, beats a tranny drop. I'd like to know what adhesive is excellent at gluing rubber to plastic.

 

[tay97gst]

Well it turns out the problem is at the shifter where the rubber cable shield meets the plastic. I always break that on these cars and "fix it" with jb weld. Unfortunately, jb weld doesn't do very well with rubber. It ended up breaking and changing the angle of the cable thereby knocking it out of adjustment. Oh well, beats a tranny drop. I'd like to know what adhesive is excellent at gluing rubber to plastic.

Glad to hear it was nothing serious

 

[4gfun]

Glad to hear it was nothing serious

Indeed, and thanks for getting me to the point where I can make my own decision. FYI, super glue apparently does well at gluing together rubber and plastic. I am using the Permatex version.

If it fails me, I just have myself to blame and will be back to post again.